LINGUIST List 17.1656
Thu Jun 01 2006
Diss: Phonetics: Lunden: 'Weight, Final Lengthening and Stress: A p...'
Editor for this issue: Meredith Valant
<meredithlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. S.L. Anya
Lunden,
Weight, Final Lengthening and Stress: A phonetic and phonological case study of Norwegian
Message 1: Weight, Final Lengthening and Stress: A phonetic and phonological case study of Norwegian
Date: 01-Jun-2006
From: S.L. Anya Lunden <lundenucsc.edu>
Subject: Weight, Final Lengthening and Stress: A phonetic and phonological case study of Norwegian
Institution: University of California, Santa Cruz
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2006
Author: Anya Lunden
Dissertation Title: Weight, Final Lengthening and Stress: A phonetic and phonological case study of Norwegian
Dissertation URL: http://people.ucsc.edu/~lunden/dissertation.html
Linguistic Field(s):
Phonetics
Subject Language(s): Norwegian, Bokmål (nob)
Dissertation Director:
Armin Mester
Jaye Padgett
Dissertation Abstract:
Many languages, including Norwegian, exhibit CVC weight asymmetry: CVC isusually heavy but behaves as light word-finally. It is proposed that thisasymmetry is motivated by facts of phonetic length and human perception. Atheory of weight is advanced in which a syllable shape in a given positionis only heavy if it, on average, is sufficiently proportionally longer thanan unstressed (necessarily light) CV in the same position. A syllable willneed to be extra-long word-finally in order to be categorized as heavybecause a final CV is notably longer than a non-final CV due to finallengthening. Analyzing weight as requiring a minimum proportional increasereflects human perception of differences: the same raw increase has less ofa perceptual effect when added to a relatively long stimulus. Using theresults of a production study it is shown that heavy syllables in Norwegianare at least 60% greater than unstressed CV syllables in the same position,putting the weight criterion at a 60% proportional increase. It is shownthat a final CVC falls short of this proportional increase threshold withonly an average increase of 27% over a same-position CV.
The stress system of Norwegian is analyzed in detail, taking thecategorization of syllable weight to be pre-determined by the weightcriterion. Evidence for the stress pattern of the language is drawn fromthe lexicon and the results of a novel word experiment administered tonative Norwegian speakers. The regular stress patterns in the language areshown to include not only the predominant stress pattern of the languagebut also several minor patterns, predictable exceptions to the basicpattern. This identification of basic and minor patterns in conjunctionwith the weight criterion based on the proportional increase thresholdallows for a more motivated and complete analysis of Norwegian stress thanhas previously been proposed.
The proportional increase theory of weight provides a phonetically andperceptually motivated explanation for the CVC weight asymmetry thusreplacing final consonant extrametricality, the traditional descriptivemechanism. Other forms of extrametricality are proposed to bereinterpretable if the perceptual consequences of final lengthening areconsidered. While the analysis of weight is consistent with the basictenets of moraic theory, a departure is made from standard moraic theorywhich takes moras to be prosodic units associated directly to segments.The theory of weight proposed treats moras a property of syllables as a whole.
|